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Glue of Skin Cuttings and Stag Horn, Simmered Four Times and Tested on the Fingers (Theophilus, 12th Century)
The panel-maker's glue from Theophilus's De Diversis Artibus (12th century): dried skin cuttings and stag horn broken small, simmered in water without boiling until a third has evaporated, tested by whether wet fingers stick when cool, and drawn off four times.
Beginner
About 2 days
Instructions
1
1
Four extractions
Four extractions
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2
2
Read De Diversis Artibus, Book I
Read De Diversis Artibus, Book I
"Moisten your fingers with this water, and if, when they have become cool, they adhere together, the glue is good."
3
3
Prepare skin and horn
Prepare skin and horn
Cut dried skin cuttings carefully into small pieces. Break stag horn very small with a smith's hammer on an anvil.
Materials for this step:
Raw Hide1 piece
Red Deer Antler1 pieceTools needed:
Leather Knife
Hammer
Anvil4
4
Simmer
Simmer
Put them together in a new pot until it is half full, fill it up with water, and heat it until a third of the water has evaporated, without letting it boil. Moisten your fingers with it: if they stick together when cool, the glue is good; if not, cook on until they do.
Tools needed:
Clay Pot
Blacksmith Forge5
5
Draw off four times
Draw off four times
Pour the glue into a clean vessel, fill the pot with water again and simmer as before. Do this four times.
Tools needed:
Clay Pot
20-Liter Bucket6
6
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Glue troubleshooting.
Flow
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7
7
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Theophilus, **De Diversis Artibus**, Book I, chapter XVIII, translated by Robert Hendrie (1847) (checked on the archive.org scan essayuponvarious00hend, p. 23). He gives no quantities or times; the tools and the diagram are ours.
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